Furnace for the immediate production of metal from ores.



N0. 829,574. PATENTED AUG. 28, 1906.

0. B. DAWSON. FURNACE FOR THE IMMEDIATE PRODUCTION OF METAL FROM ORES.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.25. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Evita/1cm s I {June-11 loz MQ m v mam PATENTED AUG. 28, 1906.

0. B. DAWSON FURNACE FOR THE IMMEDIATE PRODUCTION OF METAL FROM OR APPLICATION FILED 00125. 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

511 us 1 I (or UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER B. nAWsoN, OF CALDWELL, NEW

JERSEY.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 28, 1906.

Application filed October 25, 1905. Serial No. 284,382.

I! '0 (all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, OLIVER B. DAWSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Caldwell, in the county of Essex, State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful achinc or Furnace for the Immediate Production of Metal from Mineral-Bearing Ore; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the. invention.

The object of this invention is to provide a practical instrument to carry out the theory immediate reduction-that is, the production of metal from mineral in ore without either previous or subsequential treatment.

Modern smelter practice is first (oxidize or chloridize) roast the ore, then to smelt with flux to a concentrated product called mat, (metal bearing but not metallic,) then to blowin the bessemerizer to an impure metal for casting into anodes for electrolysis, four distinct and separate processes or acts previous to melting forbar and sheet mill;

By the use of my invention metal is roduced from the ore by one operation, hest described as the art of immediate reduction.

The object 'of this invention is to provide a furnace which will lower the cost of the commetallic mercial'production of metal from ore.

A further object is to provide a furnace in which every change in the thermo-chemistry of reduction can take place without changing the charge from one chamber to another.

A further object is to provide a furnace in Whichcopper and silver, gold and iron mineral bearing ores can be converted into metal by immediate reduction at a temperature below the tem erature of fusion, and the partic es recovered by the usual process of panning or concentration.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Eigure 1 is a vertical section of the entire machine and lower part of stack. Fi 2'is a cross-section of Fig. 1, taken on the ine of X looking in the direction of the arrows.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the two'views.

A shows in section the cavity or chamber of the fire-.brick-lined steel shell C. shows refractory fire-brick lining. v C- shows track; E

the steel shell; D, the circular. E, the wheels on which the circular F F, bearing-blocks; G G, shafts on which bearing-wheels revolve; II, sprocket; I, sprocket-chair. J shows worm gear-Wheel; K, worm-shaft.

L shows telescopic tube of hopper; M, lower end of same.

N shows charging-doorof furnace.

shows slag=spou t; I tight trap of spout; Q, tight cap of combustion end of furnace; R, movable sleeve for gas-mixing chamber; S, adjustable fuel-gas-mixing chamber; T, conical blowpipe for fuel-gas and air under pressure; U, tight asbestostrack revolves;

lined cap for excluding oxygen; V, tight repermovable cap on flue-gas chamber end to mit the escape of flue-gases and to revent the in ress of air or oxygen; W, hollow steel ohservation-tube X, mica-covered cap.

Y shows recess for cap V; Z, dust-chamber in lower end of stack.

Finely-broken ore in the case of oxids, carbonates, and lump roasted sulfids are charged into the furnace through the hopper without, fluxor fuel, the charging-door. is closed and latched, the furnace is now slowly rotated, (about one revolution in five-minutes,) the blow-pipe is withdrawn, and the air and gas or oil turned on and ignited. The

blowpipe is now thrust into the gas-mixing chamber and perfect or imperfect combustion obtained, according as you thrust in or withdraw the blast-blow ipe, since the air for combustion will be sucifed in between the blowpipe and the walls of the gas-mixing chamber. In this manner you may obtain an oxidizin a neutral, or areduction flame,

and by pus ng in or withdrawing the gasmixing chamber you may deliver this character of flame to any part of the furnace, and so roduce a hot hearth.

he furnace havin been charged and the charge heated to bri t incandescence by the direct application of the'end of the gas-mixing chamber, the occluded gases and moisture will now have been driven off. The rotation should cease with the char ing-door uppermost, the gas and air shoul be turned off, the blow-pipe withdrawn, and the outer end of gas-mixing chamber closed with cap U, and throu h the hopper a char e of some agent capa le of reducing meta lic oXids (preferably granular carbon or hydrocarbon compounds) should be introduced. The furnace is again the proper flame from closed and rotated and an intimate mechan- I presence of the incandescent carbon will be instantly split up into nascent carbon rnol noxid, a powerful andsearching reduction agent. During all this time oxygen has been excluded, because of the closure of the aper tures and the internal pressure of the generated gases. In actual practice I have found twenty minutes sufficient time for the action of the incandescent reduction agent. I am inclined to believe that the extreme chemical activityis exhibited at about 1 ,400 Fahrenheit, the melting temperature of silver, copplelr," and iron being all much higher than t 's.

I have-in actual ractice found incandescent carbon to be the most active of reduction agents. It instantly reduces hydrogen oxid (H O) when as hydrogen absolutelymefuses to reduce carbonic oxid (CO) at any attainable temperature, clearly showing the relative affinity for combined oxygen.

Having thus described my invention, what 2. The combination with a rotatable rcduction-furnace having a'firin means at one end and flue connections at the other, caps with fire roof lining for covering the firing and the 'ue ends respectively. I 3. The combination with a rotatable reduction-furnace having a firin means at one end and flue connections at 516 other, caps with fireproof lining for covering the firing and the flue ends, and an inspection-tube leading through the stack and the cap for the flue end of the furnace.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

, OLIVER B. DAWSON. Witnesses: I

STEPHEN J. LrNnsLnY, WILLAR O. Dawson. 

